Page 99 of Loathe at First Sight

Ronnie grins. “True. But since then, I don’t think you’ve done so much as drive above the speed limit. I’m pretty sure your slate has been wiped clean.”

Michelle just rolls her eyes and takes another drink while Ronnie searches through all of my parents’ old CDs to try to find something for us to listen to.

Jo asks, “Why not just play something from your phone?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Ronnie replies as she finds a CD to slip into the player.

Moments later, Backstreet Boys start playing through the speakers causing Jo to give a loud groan.

“Man, you guys are so old.”

Ronnie points at her. “Respect your elders!”

She starts dancing around the room, making her way over to each one of us and grabbing our hands and pulling until we join her.

When Dylan joins in, Jo looks at him. “You’re a massive disappointment, do you know that?”

While he dances like…well, I’m not sure what he’s dancing like, he says, “Just go with it, Jo! Do you know how much of this I had to hear growing up with these three?”

Ronnie stops in front of Jo, holding out her hands.

“Not a chance,” Jo replies, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Oh, come on!” Ronnie insists.

“Nope.”

“You leave me no choice.” Ronnie climbs onto the couch and starts dancing all around Jo, making sure she will have no peace until she decides to dance.

Finally, Jo caves and stands up, doing nothing more than swaying her hips back and forth.

Ronnie pinches her cheeks. “There you go!”

As we have an impromptu dance party in the middle of our childhood living room, I can’t help but feel happy. I wasn’t excited about this whole sleepover thing, but for the first time in forever, my relationship with my siblings is starting to feel like it used to.

At our last family dinner, it felt forced. It felt like they were damn near strangers to me, but now? I remember the awesome bond that we all shared. Growing up, we always had each other’s backs. And I know that now, we still do. Even though we all have our own lives and our own stories, we have a bond that can’t be broken—no matter how much I almost fucked that all up.

I genuinely missed all of them.

I was always too busy back in LA to realize just how much.

Ronnie’s crazy dance seems to cause her to pull something. “Oh, shit, my back.”

Dylan jokes, “Maybe you should stay off of it.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, Dyl. I prefer it doggy.”

Dylan’s face contorts. “Veronica! You have to stop saying things like that around me.”

“Never!” Ronnie laughs. “It’s too much fun.”

“I’m going to need something stronger than wine.” Dylan sighs while walking into the kitchen.

The four of us girls start laughing so hard we double over.

And for the first time since maybe I’ve gotten back, I’m really happy to be home.

thirty-four

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